A rather chilly day greeted us as we arrived at Shay Lane. But the Salem committee had provided a warm invite for the pre-match meal, and being happy to oblige, your committee dined on Scottish broth, shepherds pie and cheese and biscuits. A hearty meal to see us through the upcoming 80 minutes!

Wetherby fielded a near full strength team made up of 13 home-grown players but were facing a much-changed team at Salem with 5 new recruits strung across the back row and centres. Today was going to be a stern challenge.

And so it proved with the early pressure from Salem yet Wetherby were able to clear their lines and set up a familiar scrum in the Salem 22. With the outstanding front three of Cox-Rawnsley, Hoather and Mason, the scrum immediately dominated despite the size of the Salem pack, and walked the Salem pack backwards over their line for Blakey to score the first try of the day after 7 minutes. Conversion missed.
0-5

From the restart Wetherby competed well at the breakdown with the Iceberg, Adair, taking advantage of his low centre of gravity to win a penalty that Yates duly dispatched.

0-8

With Youlden in at scrum half, he was pulling the strings of the backs attacks setting up a beautiful break with a cultured chip over the Salem defence with the outside of his right boot, Gnonto-esque. Kaye (H) ran on to the ball but didn’t manage to complete the move with the skill of his No 9 team mate.

But it wasn’t to all go Wetherby’s way and as the Salem centre broke through the Wetherby defence they were duly pinged by the ref and took advantage of a relatively easy kick to bring the score to 3-8.

Salem were buoyed by adding points to the board yet Wetherby’s defence was holding strong. And when they were forced to kick to relieve pressure and under immense pressure from the on running attackers, Little caught the up and under, sparking the next phase of Wetherby’s onslaught.

The lineout for Wetherby was generally performing well with a tussle between our very own Reid and the Salem No 4. And Acland gave some much needed options against a very well drilled Salem.

Wetherby were under pressure for a period but destructive tackles from Day, belying his physical stature with his heart of a giant, the Salem players were repelled and when, yet again they were pinged for holding on, Yates stepped up to add some breathing space between the two teams but unfortunately missed. This perhaps was to be the fuel for his performance in the 2nd half.

Before half time Wetherby gave away another penalty which Salem dispatched to close the scores
6-8

The 2nd half kicked off bang on 3pm. Early pressure from Salem was alleviated by a massive clearance by Yates and the first scrum of the 2nd half comfortably went Wetherby’s way. With George Chafer desperately awaiting his 1st team debut from the bench and seasoned pack regular, Jim Greenwood watching on with his usual nonchalance, it was Tom Goodall who was brought on to add fresh legs and some wily sniping from the flanks.

But Salem had their tails up and with some robust criticism of the referee from the
home sidelines, they engaged Wetherby in a rolling maul in the Weth 22. The visitor’s defence, defined and refined by the absent coach, Woodworth, held firm until an infringement gave Salem yet another penalty in striking distance. Fortunately this attempt missed the left upright keeping the scores at 6-8. But the pressure was building and when Salem broke through the Wetherby defence, the backs were outnumbered and good hands from Salem saw them over the line with the try converted.

13-8

Wetherby were so dominant in the scrums and 24 minutes in to 2nd half Salem found themselves heading back towards their own try line. Hoather then got on the wrong side of the referee having politely asked for the advantage after a Salem infringement, the outcome was an inexplicable yellow card for Hoather and Wetherby had 10 minutes down to 14 men.

But instead of being on the back foot, Wetherby seemed to be buoyed by the lack of their club captain, and marauded forward with passes through the backs. Kaye (J), Day and Oates combined like the old pro’s they are creating space with intuitive passing moves and when the pretty running didn’t work, the hard yards were won by big carries from Reid, Mason and Acland. Chafer and Greenwood provided inspiration from the bench and Wetherby yet again drove in to the Salem half.

Yates was on the hunt for a try, always in or around the action, and when a misplaced pass went to ground he scooped up the ball and proceeded to fend off the majority of the Salem pack before appearing out of the melee in space, running towards goal and over the whitewash.

Conversion completed

13-15

Back in the Wetherby half after the kick off, the clock was ticking down and Salem cunningly set up a drop goal attempt that was so close to being executed, but it bounced back off the upright.

Wetherby were seriously trying to see this game out with Acland taking a knee to get some much needed water on board, Hoather returned to the pitch. And with yet another infringement from Salem, Yates aimed to put the game out of reach with a penalty from the Wetherby half. Whilst this one was missed Wetherby almost immediately benefitted from another decision their way and this one was duly dispatched with the final kick of game: 13-18